Casting at less than full power

[Abraxas]

Piratecat's thread about spellranges and fireballs provoked this thought.

Is there any reason (from a balance perspective) a spellcaster shouldn't be allowed to cast a spell with less than its maximum effect? For examples:

A 15th level druid casting Firestorm - instead of having to choose thirty 10 ft cubes, would it be a problem for them to instead choose only six 10 ft cubes?

or

A 10th level wizard casting a fireball that only does 5d6 damage instead of 10d6?

 

[Thanee]

Often, such spells say "up to...", so that option is automatically included. Other than that, I think you can lower your caster level willingly.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Abraxas]

Well fire storm says "Two 10-ft cubes per level". No "up to" anywhere in the description.

Plus I'm not really talking about lowering caster level, just effect, so the fireball would do 5d6 damage but use CL 10 to bypass SR.

An aside: All these spell questions are in prep for the first wizard character I have played since 1st edition.

 

[Len]

You can cast a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level you choose must be high enough for you to cast the spell in question, and all level-dependent features must be based on the same caster level.

So yes, you can cast a spell at a lower level, but your firestorm example won't work because the lowest caster level for firestorm is 13th (= 26 10-foot cubes).
But I don't see any way to just reduce the effect without changing the caster level.

 

[Thanee]

Well, with Firestorm you could stack the cubes on each other to reduce the area.

Since damage is done only once, that effectively lowers the number of cubes you "have to" set.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

And no, I don't think you can lower part of the effect, the caster level has... just the full package.

Bye
Thanee

 

[frankthedm]

Only the item creation process ever lets a caster reduce the caster level.

From a balance perspective is there a reason spell caster shouldn't be allowed to? Yes. If this is allowed, then cheaper items of energy resistance will let casters cast ground zero fireballs and other area of effects with relative safely. A mage that BS's this sort of trick greatly improve the usability of area effect spells when the party is swarmed. Rather than do serious damage to all party member with the mage's hard save DC, those with mild energy resistances get away damage free and the rogues does not worry much even on the failed save.

And when would this metamagic-like decision to lower the damage be made? A caster that prepares spells should not be given this level of versatility at the time of casting. This level of adjustment at least should require prior preparation.

 

[Staffan]

Only the item creation process ever lets a caster reduce the caster level.

Wrong. From the SRD magic overview, under the heading "caster level": You can cast a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level you choose must be high enough for you to cast the spell in question, and all level-dependent features must be based on the same caster level.

 

[CronoDekar]

From a balance perspective is there a reason spell caster shouldn't be allowed to? Yes. If this is allowed, then cheaper items of energy resistance will let casters cast ground zero fireballs and other area of effects with relative safely. A mage that BS's this sort of trick greatly improve the usability of area effect spells when the party is swarmed. Rather than do serious damage to all party member with the mage's hard save DC, those with mild energy resistances get away damage free and the rogues does not worry much even on the failed save.

To me it actually sounds rather clever. It requires that all in the spell's area of effect have energy resistance of the same type and that type being the same as the cast spell (which may require preperation), and for the lowered caster level to be efficient tactically as far as the enemies' HP goes. Personally, I have no problem if someone wants to spontaneously lower their caster level as they cast a spell -- it's rare that a situation would come up that they would want to anyway. As long as they don't reduce their caster level lower than would let them cast the spell, anyway.

 

[frankthedm]

Wrong. From the SRD magic overview, under the heading "caster level": You can cast a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level you choose must be high enough for you to cast the spell in question, and all level-dependent features must be based on the same caster level.

CASTER LEVEL
A spell’s power often depends on its caster level, which for most spellcasting characters is equal to your class level in the class you’re using to cast the spell.
You can cast a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level you choose must be high enough for you to cast the spell in question, and all level-dependent features must be based on the same caster level.

Looks like i am eating crow...